Aluminum Anodization
Aluminum anodization issue
hello,
we are a young french company specialized in the manufacturing of high-end audio products.
Our products design uses cnc machined aluminum parts.
For cost control reasons, we have to make these parts in guangdong area (mainland china).
Considering the retail price of our products, we cannot afford any defects on the surface of our aluminum parts.
Recently, we had to change our anodization supplier as the other workshop shut down.
We are pretty happy overall but there is still one detail we would like to fix.
When taking a close look at our parts, we can see some irregularities in the color. This is quite difficult to explain without pictures but allow me to try explaining this with my words.
From long and mid distance, the finish is perfect. Color and aspect overall are very consistent. The more you get close the more you will see the following defect: thousands of small spots are defining a consistent color, but these pixels can be very different in color from one to another, some are more white, other are more grey or darker. This melting pot makes the render very consistent from a reasonable distance but at this price we would like to have something very consistent at a close range as well.
If you get back to me, i will of course send you pictures asap.
So far we have the following ideas on how to fix this, but since we are not anodization experts and that our supplier provides a limited technical capacity it is quite difficult:
- aluminium used is 6082 (in the past we used 6061). We are thinking of trying different kind of aluminum in the 6000 serie.
- poor aluminum quality might also be responsible but this is almost impossible to control at our level
- we know that our supplier does not use in its anodization process the following tasks:
> pores clogging (by boiling the parts with hot water for 2 min)
> poor water and bath replacement
> no bath agitation
- we do not think that anodization layer thickness is responsible but maybe, today layer is quite thin, around 4 microns, just like before in order to prevent the parts to become too grey.
Anyway, we are looking for a professional who can guide us with professionalism and good common sense.
As the task is quite urgent, we would only require a participation by emails, pictures and phone possibly.
We do not require tangible results, only someone knowledgeable to talk with.
Additionally, we are willing to pay for someone who could come on site (shenzhen area, china) for site inspection. No need to speak chinese but this would be definitely an asset.
Best regards
+15 Other ResponsesAluminum Trihydrate
I am looking to understand the aluminum trihydrate market better.
Commodity – aluminum trihydrate
cas# - 8064-00-4
markets – global
questions –
1. End use downstream demand split in % for global and regional markets (global, us, eu, asia)
2. Market size – in volume and value – and provide regional (apac/na/latam) supply market share in %? Like us (45%, eu xx% so on)
3. List of manufacturers of ath with the following details - name, plant location, capacity, manufacturing process, from where do they get their bauxite? (to understand their supply chain better)
4. Cost of manufacturing – for different regions (us, asia, europe) along with regional pricing for ath
5. Sourcing best practices – for an end user in the us, how to implement global sourcing? Best practices/engagement models/pricing indications
+9 Other Responses
1-877-236-7016